


Leaves From The Vine

by parkersharthook



Series: peter parker fics [5]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Avatar: The Last Airbender References, Bending (Avatar), Established Relationship, F/M, Mentions of child neglect, Superfamily (Marvel), Team as Family, mentions of explosions, peter Parker is a good boyfriend, sad back story, so many atla references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24187906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkersharthook/pseuds/parkersharthook
Summary: A secret about you comes out that forces you to spill all the painful memories of your childhood
Relationships: Peter Parker/Reader
Series: peter parker fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745689
Kudos: 45





	Leaves From The Vine

It was tense in the conference room. Everyone sat in complete silence. Your glassy eyes watched Tony pace at the head of the table while you bit your lip and fiddled your fingers nervously. He would pause for a moment and then resume his pacing, never taking his eyes off you. There was another fidgety presence pressed against the far wall of the room, out of your direct eyeline, but you could make out his shadow in your peripheral. You didn’t think you deserved to look at him, not right now.

“I’m gonna go.” His voice was quiet and terse, his movements rigid and frustrated as he practically sprinted for the door. He yanked it open with superhuman strength, almost pulling it straight off the hinges. A head of blonde and a pair of heels followed hurriedly after him. You winced as the door slammed shut and hung your head in shame. You really didn’t mean for it to come to this.

-

4 hours earlier

-

“Do you want Chinese?”

You didn’t answer, your fingers curling gently around Peter’s hair. You followed his natural curve pattern before untwisting it and then moving it in the opposite direction. You were completely entranced with the fluffy head of hair settled nicely in your lap.

Peter sighed and rolled his eyes fondly as he looked into your face. He recognized the look: eyes locked in on the strand of hair, lips parted slightly, short tuffs of air coming out regularly. His hair had your undivided attention.

This happened sometimes and it wasn’t always something you could control. You’d find something small and insignificant to focus on and slowly disassociate from the world. Sometimes your thoughts were about the task you had undertaken or sometimes they were about anything and everything. On your better days, you called it your ‘Avatar State’.

The first few times it happened, Peter had startled you out of it (on accident of course) which left you embarrassed and him apologetic. Over the course of your 6 month relationship however, he learned. And while he didn’t _really_ want to disturb you, his stomach was growling up something fierce and needed food. His hand snaked upward slowly and slightly before it gently landed on you knee. He rested it there for a moment before giving it a light squeeze.

He saw you blink, your eyes watering and then refocusing quickly. You blinked a few more times before inhaling deeply and looking around. Peter smiled at you and then smiled wider when your gaze made it down to his face. You combed your hand through his head with more purpose this time, “sorry. Zoned out there for a bit.”

“no worries. Hungry?” You nodded and Peter immediately sat up and moved off the bed causing you to frown.

He whined dramatically, “Babe, I’m so hungry. My dad said he got Chinese so it’s either that or we leave this tower immediately to get some food.”

You rolled your eyes and lazily rolled off the bed, strolling up to Peter and throwing your arms around his neck like you had all the time in the world. You pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before pulling back, “so needy.”

“the neediest. Now c’mon, I’m hungry.” He grabbed your hand and quickly pulled you towards the door. You laughed as you trailed behind him as he pulled you through the long hallways until you reached the kitchen.

“Thank god you two showed up. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could fight off these _heathens_ for you to get food.” Tony said bitterly as he put his body in front of a good pile of cartons. Peter could see both Bucky and Sam eyeing the pile with hungry eyes, despite the large amount of food on both of their plates.

“yes! You’re the best dad!” Peter quickly vaulted over the couch and ran to the kitchen to grab the food. You were much slower and much less graceful as you walked around the furniture like a normal person. You often compared yourself to Sokka while surrounded by superheroes.

You smiled at the older man, “thank you Tony.”

“of course.” You settled against the counter, quickly digging into a carton of noodles.

Sam narrowed his eyes at peter, “why do they get so much food?”

“because we like them better.” Steve said casually as he strolled into the room with Morgan on his hip.

Peter pointed his fork at Sam, “haha.” Then turned to his dad, “great timing pops. You’re the best.”

“I thought I was the best?” Tony called from the couch.

“sorry you’ve been demoted.” Peter stated casually causing you to laugh.

Tony turned and pouted before looking at you. “y/n you think I’m the best right?”

You quickly held your hands up in defense, “I’m not in the middle of this.”

Bucky shook his head, “Good choice y/n, you’re too smart for their nonsense.” Your eyes caught his metal arm, remembering when you gave him the nickname of sparky-sparky boom man a few weeks ago. You had quickly covered your mouth in embarassment before Clint began laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe. It had actually ended up with you not murdered, surprisingly.

Morgan perked up, clumsily pushing her curls out of her face with a little baby hand. Her voice drew you back, “Even me Unc’ Buck?”

Bucky smiled softly and pushed her hair back, “Course not Morgan. Everyone knows you’re the smartest of them all.”

Morgan giggled happily and then looked over to you with a big smile. You smiled back just as largely.

“I take it back, Morgan’s my favorite!”, you stated seriously. A chorus of groans from your boyfriend and his dads could be heard. You smiled and looked around as more avengers began to file in. Peter slid closer and bumped your hip with his, offering you a small smile. Oh, so this is what happy looked like.

-

Now

-

“Tony.. I-” He silence you immediately with a raised hand a little ‘ump’ noise. Your mouth clamped shut with an audible click. He waited for a moment before his hand landed back on his chin and his pacing began again. His eyes still burned into your skin. _Great job with the parents_ , you thought bitterly to yourself.

You winced under his gaze a moment later and ducked your head, your whole body slouching and your hand coming up to fiddle with the ends of your hair. You could feel the gaze of nine pairs of eyes on you and it made you wildly uncomfortable. You didn’t like being the center of attention, that’s why you kept this a secret. But look where that got you now.

-

2 hours earlier

-

“Hey Pete, can I come in?” Steve called from behind the door with a small knock.

“yeah it’s open.” Peter called back. Steve entered the room to find Peter laying on his bed in a slightly bent shape, with you copying his position but with your head at the foot of the bed. Peter was fiddling with a loose strand of thread on your sock and Steve couldn’t help but smile at the sight. You two were good for each other.

“I need you to watch Morgan for a little bit, we got called in for an emergency meeting at SHIELD.”

“everything okay? Am I needed?”

Steve shook his head, “no it’s not a mission it’s about something else… I don’t really know. I usually stop listening when fury starts talking.” The sentence startled a laugh out of you. Steve smiled at you, “he’s usually full of hot hair.” Steve shrugged causing you to smile wider. Man, you wish you had a dad like him.

“but all’s good?”

“yeah it’s fine, not even everyone is going, just me, your dad, Wanda, and Sam. Both Bruce and Vision will be in the lab if you need something but they’re working on some project or another. Clint’s not allowed to babysit unsupervised, like you know and Bucky and Nat are currently… well occupied…”

You stifled a giggle at the shade of red Peter turned. “ew dad.”

He chuckled slightly, “sorry. But do you mind watching her? It’ll only be for an hour or two.”

“yeah of course.” Both you and Peter shifted slightly and got off the bed. “is she in the living room?”

“yeah she’s with your dad coloring. Tell him to hurry up, will you?”

“Yeah I got you. Good luck with whatever is going on.”

“yeah thanks kid.”

You and Peter walked to the living room, Morgan instantly perking up and rushing towards you guys. She barreled into your legs, causing you to stumble back with a laugh as Peter steadied you. You smiled at the happy toddler as you bent down and picked her up.

“yeah thanks Morg, forget all about Daddy. Real great.” You laugh as Tony slowly picked himself off the floor, groaning slight.

“Pops says to hurry up. We got the little rascal.” Morgan squealed at the name as Peter quickly moved to tickle her stomach.

“Yeah, yeah I’m going.” He paused and planted firm clap on Peter’s shoulder before pressing a sloppy kiss to Morgan’s forehead just to make her laugh. To your surprise however, Tony also placed a delicate kiss to your cheek as he left with a little wave. You blushed and found your eyes tearing up slightly at the fatherly affection. You quickly pushed down the emotions with a cough and moved to the couch, a wriggling three year old still in your arms. You set her down softly on the ground and she immediately tugged Peter to the floor with her to color. You settled on the sectional behind them watching with a warm smile. You could get used to this.

-

Now

-

You felt the tip of a shoe graze against your shin and your head shot up, eyes widening. You didn’t realize you had gone into another disassociation until you met Natasha’s piercing green eyes. She quirked an eyebrow in question and you gave a slight nod trying to signal that all was good. Not that all was good at all really. In fact it felt like you’re entire world was falling apart around you. I mean here you were sitting in a room with nine other fully trained and very intimidating superheroes, and you were absolutely sure you were on the verge of tears and so unbelievably exhausted. But you couldn’t show that so you just nodded shyly.

Your eyes flitted around the room once more. Tony had finally stopped pacing and was now bracing himself against the back of the office chair. Steve reach up and lightly grabbed his wrist, encouraging him to sit down. Tony glanced at Steve’s hand but made no effort to move.

Bucky has folded his hands together, obviously getting impatient. Clint looked bored as he used a knife to dig dirt out from beneath his nails. Rhodey, Sam, and Vision were the definition of calm and collected as they sat politely and silently. Stupid military men/androids and their stupid manners. Wanda and Natasha just looked concerned and kept eyeing you with worry which was honestly making you even more nervous than before.

Tony took a large and loud inhale, practically forcing the attention to him. Your eyes snapped to his, your hands beginning to shake slightly. He narrowed his eyes at you and frowned slightly, “spill.”

-

45 minutes earlier

-

“I’m gonna run to the bathroom real quick.” Peter told you as he pushed himself up. Stretching out his legs and groaning from sitting on the hard floor for so long

“yeah no problem.”

Morgan turned to you, “can we color more?”

“of course sweetheart. Let’s get some more paper from the kitchen table.” You stood from the couch and held out your hand for the child to take. She did so happily and skipped behind you with a large smile on her face. You were about 6 yards from the kitchen when something went terribly, _terribly_ wrong.

You’re not even sure what happened and you doubt you’d be able to recall it in the future. In one second flat, red lights started flashing, alarms began to blare, the large windows on the wall shattered to a million pieces, and large scary looking _things_ rushed towards you.

Looking back on it, you’re sure that you blacked out and were running on pure instinct and adrenaline. Because only a fraction of a second later did you thrust your hand toward a robot, not waiting to see if it went down before curling your body around Morgan and raising a hand above your head to protect yourself. Morgan was crying against your chest and you did your best to console her with your free hand, your other one shaking and straining to stay raised.

You don’t know how long you were in that position, you had your eyes squeezed too tightly shut and you were deathly scared of what would happen if you opened them. Logically, you told yourself, nothing would change and your vision would remain dark. But you couldn’t risk it.

What felt like an eternity later you finally heard a voice. It was soft but obviously scared and sounded far away. You very cautiously opened your eyes, putting your hand against Morgan’s head and pushing her further against your chest. Nothing was getting to this child, so help you god. You looked around, only seeing darkness, and strained your ears.

“y/n? Morgan?” That was Peter. He sounded worried, anxious even. He called again, this time sounding closer. “Are you in there?”

“Peter!” that was someone new. It made you wince causing Morgan to cry harder. She had no idea what was going on and was reacting purely off of what you were doing. You had to stay calm, for her. “What happened!?” Tony. That was Tony. Oh no… he probably came home once the alarm sounded.

You looked down to the sobbing child in your arms and knew that nothing would stop Tony from seeing his baby. And you didn’t want to cause any more harm, so very slowly you lowered your arm. The rock barrier you put around you and the child lowered with it.

You squinted against the harsh intake of lights but quickly refocused and saw every. Single. Damn. Avenger standing in front of you looking both concerned and absolutely flabbergasted.

“what the fuck?” peter stuttered out, looking to where Morgan was still sniffling against you. Very quickly Morgan picked her head up at the noise of her brother’s voice and caught his eye. Her eyes quickly welled up again but then she noticed her dads and absolutely took off to find comfort in them. You didn’t blame her, you would love a nice hug right about now. But from the looks on the faces of the people around you, you really didn’t think you were gonna get one.

Steve’s gaze on you hardened immediately, “y/n, you have some explaining to do.” All you could do was nod dumbly from your place on the floor. You didn’t notice you were crying as well.

-

Now

-

“spill.”

“tony, maybe you should sit down.” Steve’s voice was soft and reassuring. Damn you wish it was directed at you right now.

Natasha was next, “Tony, you’re scaring her. Sit down.”

He threw his hands around, “ _I’m_ scaring _her_!?” you flinched at the loud sound. It didn’t go unnoticed by the heroes. Tony continued on, “She- she- she fucking controlled the earth around her! I didn’t know where _Morgan_ was! If the intruders had gotten her or if she was dead somewhere and there she was, with- with _her_!” The finger pointed at you felt threatening and harsh. More tears spilt from your eyes.

Sam shot out of his seat, anger clouding his features. “Stand down.” Tony glared at him, neither refusing to back down. Sam seethed, “she’s a child. She’s scared. And right now Tony, she’s scared of you.” The words caused Tony to deflate slightly. “she saved Morgan. Sit your ass down before I make Steve carry you out of here.”

Tony sent another glare Sam’s way before landing in his chair clumsily. He didn’t meet your gaze again, preferring to stare at the wooden table instead. But his hands were clenched, obviously still angry about the situation.

“I’m sorry.” You words were broken and hoarse and didn’t even sound like you. You felt warm hands cover your own, it was Nat, but you pulled away. You didn’t deserve that. Not right now.

“y/n…” Sam started slowly. That was his therapist voice. It was calming. You tried your hardest to focus on that. “y/n… this is a confusing situation for everyone. But we would really like to talk about this. To figure out what happened.”

“I- I don’t know what happened.”

“you don’t know?” Bucky pressed gently.

You shook your head, “no. there were alarms and lights and I don’t know what those things were or who they were or what they wanted. I just acted on instinct. I kinda think I blacked out.”

“and the rock shield?”

“the rock shield?” you looked up confused. Oh… OH. Fuck, your brain was scattered right now. “oh. Yeah. That.”

“yeah, that.” Tony bit back harshly.

“um…” you looked around the room, “I kind of have… powers?”

-

20 minutes earlier with Peter

-

“I’m gonna go.” Peter bolted out of that room. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, couldn’t think. There were delicate hands against his shoulders and then against his neck and cheeks. For a moment he thought they were yours but then straight hair and hard eyes and… and your eyes were soft and not as business-like so this wasn’t you. Peter focused in more and saw Pepper standing in front of him.

“breathe. Peter, you need to breathe.” She was talking to him. Instructing him more like it and finally he began to listen, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out shakily. “there you go, keep breathing.” Her hands were cool against his warm cheek and it felt good, really good. But he was too keyed up after the attack and the adrenaline was still kicking and he _couldn’t breathe_.

“peter.” She tapped his cheek lightly, “listen to me right now. Breathe. C’mon do it with me. In and out, in and out, there you go, in and out.”

Slowly he began to fall into a rhythm and calm down. His shoulders dropped and his posture sagged and his eyes drooped slightly. He was tired now. The adrenaline was gone and now he was just spent.

“let’s go sit with Morgan. Your dads finally got her to bed and if she wakes up from a nightmare it’ll be good for you to be there.” All peter could do was nod.

Pepper guided him to the room with a hand on his back. She was sleeping peacefully in the middle of a bed that was slightly too large for her but adorable none the less. The edge barriers were still in place to keep her from rolling off and Peter found himself smiling at the sight. Pepper pushed him gently to the couch and forced him to lay down on it before settling in the rocking chair herself. She was happy to note that Peter was asleep within the next five minutes. Pepper just sat there and watched her two god children sleep away their troubles.

-

Now in the meeting

-

“You… you have powers?” Rhodey asked, dumbfounded and shocked.

You bit your lip and nodded, “kinda?”

“is it a question?” rhodey pressed, you shook your head.

“No sir.” You gulped, “I have powers.” You voice was shaky, everyone could tell you were running on false confidence.

“powers…” Rhodey repeated again.

Clint chuckled, “can’t say I expected that one.” Tension left your body at the light humor. You were always comfortable around Clint, despite his tendency to wreak havoc wherever he went. He just seemed so much like the fun uncle you always wanted, cracking jokes and easing tension despite the situation. It was nice… he was something you could focus on now.

“y/n?” You shook out of the trance to see Bucky staring at you, he had obviously been repeating your name up until this point.

You blushed harder, a shaky hand pushing hair behind your ear. “sorry.”

“I asked if you could explain.” You cocked your head slightly. He waved his hand slightly and continued, “I mean if you could explain how you got them.”

“oh…” You wanted to say no. Wanted to refuse that private part of your life that was just yours. Wanted to keep the dirty secret you always hated so much just that… a secret. “yeah, I guess if you want me to.”

Wanda stepped in immediately. “only if you want to.” You met her gaze, right… she could read minds.

“No. We deserve an explanation for what happened out there.” Tony interrupted roughly, “we’ve known this girl for six months. She’s dating Peter and we didn’t know this about her? You’re not on any registry? Not in any news outlet? Obviously Peter didn’t know because he panicked his way right out of here. You can’t expect me to-”

“I’ll tell you!” You shouted, just to get him to stop. You couldn’t take it. You didn’t want him to list all the ways you fucked up. You knew it already, you were repeating the same list in your head. “I’ll tell you…”

“y/n…” That was Nat again. Ugh, you wished they weren’t so concerned for you, it would make everything so much easier.

“no it’s fine, really. I don’t want to burn any bridges or have you guys not trust me. I’ll tell you… but it’s kind of a long story, and not super pleasant.”

You could feel the air in the room shift slightly to something more somber. Backs straightened, eyes averted away from you towards inanimate objects, hands clasped together, people prepared themselves.

“I’m sure that when I started dating Peter, you all did background checks on me so you know a little of my history… but there’s a lot that’s not on there.” You took a deep breath, “when I was seventeen, my younger brother came out to my parents as trans and they kicked him out. He was only fourteen and didn’t have anywhere to go. I fought for him obviously which got me kicked out as a result. So we went to a shelter, I forged some documents saying I was 18 and his guardian so they didn’t call CPS.

“I started looking for a job to pay for us and a cheap apartment. Found this really shitty little rat hole for us but it worked. I slept on the couch and gave him the bed, but they were in the same room so it didn’t really matter. I got a job as an assistant at an engineering company nearby. It was honestly the best job I could hope for at the time: the boss was really kind, paid pretty decently, worked with school hours so I could continue going to school. It was good.

“I would go to this work after school and be the assistant for the CEO, he was this older gentleman who had the sweetest family and soon enough he became a sort of father figure for me. He never knew of my situation, I’m sure he would’ve done something if he did.” Your eyes grew a little misty at the memories. The others could tell how this was going to end.

“After about a year of working there, I was close to graduating high school and pretty much assumed college wasn’t an option for me. I still had to take care of my brother and couldn’t afford any books, and definitely not a university. But I accepted it and just got ready to work full time.”

“there was this one night where Mr. Frederickson, my boss, texted me saying I left my textbook in his office. And I wasn’t going to go back that night but the building was closed for annual inspections the next day and I had to get it back to the library or they would fine me, and money was really tight.

“Mr. Frederickson was still working and the nightshift had already come in, so it wasn’t sketchy or anything so I just stopped by the office to get my textbook, no big deal right? Well for the maybe… fifteen minutes that I was in the office, something malfunctioned and caused a big enough explosion to level the entire plant.” You sighed heavily, “fifty people in there at the time, I was the only survivor.”

Gasps filled the room. You didn’t meet their eyes, you didn’t want the sympathy.

“I was told that Mr. Frederickson survive the initial explosion but had too much smoke inhalation and passed soon after the first responders found him. I don’t remember much from it, I was knocked unconscious but the doctors said I got really lucky because I left with only a concussion and some lacerations. But… I got really lucky. It was a huge press field day though so I had to stay anonymous to protect my family… not that I had much family to protect. The police told me that their investigation concluded that there wasn’t any foul play and it was purely accidental which was good to hear, I didn’t want anyone coming after me or anything….”

“y/n…” Bucky’s voice was thick with emotion, “was this the Right Way Engineering Company?”

You nodded dumbly and watched as he and Sam shared a look. Sam sighed, “y/n we were there as first responders. I… I was the one who pulled you out of the rubble.”

“oh.” You squeaked. You coughed slightly, “thank you for saving my life.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. We didn’t get your name before the ambulance took you and we wanted to check in but we couldn’t find you in the hospital and the nurses wouldn’t give us any information…” Sam sounded distraught which didn’t make sense to you.

You shrugged slightly, “there’s nothing you could’ve done. I don’t remember anything so it’s not like I needed therapy.” You chuckled humorlessly

“So the explosion caused your powers?” Clint asked, humor far from his tone

You nodded, “I assume so. I never knew what they did in the factory you know? I just stuck to coffee orders and mail runs but I guess whatever they were doing gave me these powers.”

“And what are… what are those powers?” you kinda forgot that Vision was in the room with how quiet he was being.

“I can control the four elements… kinda like the avatar but I don’t expect you guys to get that reference.” You mumbled the last bit and missed the look of excitement wash over Clint and Bucky’s face.

“y/n…. you’re Aang.” Clint stated with a huge smile on his face.

Your eyes shot to his, “you know the show?”

“know the show?! I am an ATLA fanatic! I write fanfiction for it!” that caused you to laugh and suddenly you felt so much better. “why do you think I loved the nickname ‘sparky-sparky boom man’ so much?”

“wait is all the spirit stuff accurate?” Bucky suddenly asked causing you to look at him in shock.

“you too?”

“Oh yeah, Clint put it on my catch up list and thank god he did. Best show ever.” Little chuckles fell from your lips at the admission.

“umm not that I know of? And I can’t produce the elements like they can. I can only control what’s around me. So air is the most abundant but I rarely use fire.”

“I’m sorry… I’m a little confused. You can… control? The elements?” Steve asked, utter bewilderment across his face.

You bit your lip and nodded, using your fingers to send a warm breeze across his face. Clint giggled with a cheeky grin.

He whispered loudly, “best day ever.”

“so you pulled a rock shield over you and Morgan when you saw you were being attacked?” Nat supplied with a small smirk.

“yeah I guess, it was all pretty instinctual and fast pace. I didn’t even realize I did it until Peter started calling my name.” Your heart beat a little heavier at his name.

You forced yourself to meet Tony’s gaze once again, finding less intensity and more pity.

Rhodey raised his hand slightly, “I don’t mean to pry but Peter said he met you at college? I thought you didn’t go?”

“oh, apparently Mr. Frederickson put me in his will. I babysat for him a few times and got close with his wife and kids and grandkids so I guess he considered me family. I used the money to put me and my brother in a slightly better college apartment and went to Brooklyn College on a small scholarship. It ends up only being around $500 a semester and I have a job at the library so I get free access to books and sometimes they put my paycheck directly against my tuition. I’ve put the rest away for my brother to go to college. He’s going to graduate high school next year.” A small smile graced your lips as you said it. Damn, the kid was growing up.

“have you had tests done?” You hadn’t heard Tony’s voice in so long that it startled you.

You shook your head, “I tried to do a little research but it’s not like a common disease or anything and there’s no one I trusted enough to tell and it’s not like I have access to that equipment or the knowledge of what to test for.”

Tony just nodded slyly. Steve was next, “so why hide it?”

You shrugged and fiddled with a loose thread. “no offense or anything, but I wasn’t really interested in the whole superhero thing. I had to take care of my brother and myself and I didn’t really have the emotional capacity to worry about anyone else. Plus, it’s not like vigilantes get paid so it just wasn’t an option. And what else was I going to use them for? Become a travelling freak show and ultimately gain the attention of either you guys or bad guys and then get sucked into this life? No thanks. So I just didn’t tell anyone.”

“Does your brother know?”

You chuckled slightly, “no, he has such a big mouth. I’ve always wanted to tell him and it’s not that I don’t trust him, he’s just excitable sometimes and I worry it’ll slip out. Plus, the less he knows the safer he is.”

“y/n, we’re really sorry for how this all went down.” Steve suddenly said sincerely. You gave him a tight lipped smile. “I’m sorry for how I behaved, I was just shocked and scared and confused. You are more than welcome here anytime and I don’t want it to seem like you’re not.”

You were about to respond but Tony cut you off, “Peter doesn’t know about this?” You shook your head. “any of it?”

“He knows my brother and that we live together. But I think he assumes that was a choice or we had a lack of parent situation. I think he was just too nice to ask about it. But that’s it.”

Tony hummed as he leaned on his hand. “do you guys mind giving me and y/n the room?”

You stiffened slightly. Wanda spoke up for you, “tony is that the best idea?”

“I’m not going to scream at her. I just want to talk to her without you morons eavesdropping. Is that okay y/n?”

And how do you turn down _Iron Man, Tony Stark, father to your boyfriend_? “yeah sure.”

The avengers filed out dutifully leaving you and tony and a long table between you two. Tony sighed and stood up before settling in the chair closest to you.

“well first off, I’m sorry that I exploded on you. That wasn’t cool. Like Steve, I was scared for Morgan and confused and I didn’t know what was happening. I’ve had people in my life that I trusted turn their backs on me. I didn’t want that for peter.”

“I get it.” You nodded and sighed, “I really do. Ryan, my brother, had a friend tell a secret of his once and I barely contained myself to words so I can only imagine what you were feeling.”

Tony chuckled lightly at that before sobering up slightly. “I’m also really sorry you had to grow up so soon. No one should be a caregiver at 17 and it very well shouldn’t continue on until your 21 so I’ve got you now.”

“pardon?”

“everything. It’s on me. You make peter happy and you saved Morgan, it’s the least I can do. I’ll put you and your brother in a nicer apartment closer to your college and monthly groceries will be delivered, just let me know what you want. His college too, everything. I’ll take care of it.”

“Tony… I can’t accept that.”

He looked at you deeply, “You saved Morgan and you make Peter happy. We all love you. You deserve better and I have more money than I know what to do with. Let me help you.”

“I-I…” You sighed and then groaned slightly because you knew Tony, “I don’t really have a choice do I?”

He laughed and patted your knee, “not really. I’ve already had FRIDAY start up the papers and transfers needed.”

You felt tears come to your eyes and you couldn’t help it. Before you knew it, you threw yourself into his chest and wrapped your arms tightly around his middle. You sagged in relief when you felt his arms wrap around you as well.

It was nice. It was safe.

“You need to tell Peter about this though. And probably your brother.”

“I will, no more hiding from now on. I’ll tell them both everything.” You bit your lip as you separated from the man, “is peter going to be mad?”

“not even a little bit.”

And he wasn’t, to your relief. He just held you close as you cried and offered you comforting words. He also didn’t leave you out of his sight for the rest of the night, taking you home all the way to Brooklyn and then buying dinner for you and Ryan and then sitting with you as you explained everything to your brother.

Overall, it went better than expected but it was still something to get used to. But now you had this family, a supportive one for a change, so you knew you didn’t have to deal with it alone.

-

3 months later

-

“Is Kate going to be there?”

“can you chill out? You’re such a teenage boy.” You nudged Ryan as the two of you rode the elevator up the tower.

“well yeah, I am 17.” He scoffed in return

“yes, I’m sure she’ll be here. But don’t flirt with her too obviously or Clint will literally kill you. And I know I’ve been practicing with my powers but I don’t think I can save you from a master assassin.”

“rude.”

You let out a short laugh as the elevator doors opened, the two of you walking out towards the large training center.

“hey Ryan!” Peter called from his perch on the roof with a small wave. That is until a net arrow was quickly shot his way and he had to jump out of the way. Your eyes travelled to Kate who was using your boyfriend as a human target practice, much to Clint’s chagrin.

“remember to use double release on opponents who are quick, it’ll make it easier to trap them.” He turned to you with a grin, “think fast.” In a blink he had his arrow drawn and let it fly right towards your face, your arm immediately going up to protect you and your brother with a slab of rock.

You lowered it with a grimace, “you’re going to kill me one of these days.”

“then get better.”

Ryan leaned closer and nudged you, “thank you so much for boning an avenger. This is the best.”

You shoved him lightly with a laugh, “you’re the worst.” But yeah… this kinda was _the best_.

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment and a kudos :))
> 
> requests are open
> 
> tumblr: parkersharthook


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